Co-presented by QPIRG-McGill, Contemporary Poetics of Trans People of Colour is a series featuring workshops, performances, readings and conversations between Christopher Soto (aka Loma) and Star Amerasu (United States).

This workshop will showcase the music and performance piece FOUR by Star Amerasu. This work is a direct response to the trauma that Star has experienced in expressing herself as a black trans feminine performer. FOUR highlights the emotions of Anxiety, Anger, Shame, and Freedom. In this workshop, Star will share her process in making these art pieces and the ways in which she goes about turning physical and mental violence into performative art.

How can we find ways to write into the pain without re-traumatizing ourselves? What does self-care look like when we are writing about emotionally difficult issues? Can or should poetry ever be a “safe-space” for radical writers? We will discuss tools and techniques in this workshop about how to protect our mental health without writing into /out of the pain.

7 PM
Contemporary Poetics of Trans People of Colour – Performance followed by QnA

This evening will feature Christopher Soto (Loma), who will be reading excerpts from their chapbook “Sad Girl Poems”, and Star Amerasu, who will be performing some of her musical pieces.

The readings and performance should last approximatively one hour and will be followed by a discussion and QnA facilitated by Kama La Mackerel.

Christopher Soto (aka Loma) is a queer latinx punk poet and prison abolitionist. They founded Neplanta: A Journal Dedicated to Queer Poets of Color with the Lambda Literary Foundation. Their poetry has been called “political surrealist” and focuses on domestic violence, queer youth homelessness, and mass incarceration. Their first chapbook, “Sad Girl Poems”, was published by Sibling Rivalry Press in 2016. They received an MFA in poetry from NYU, interned at the Poetry Society of America, and their work has been translated into Spanish and Portuguese. Originally from the Los Angeles area, they now live in Brooklyn. http://christophersoto-poet.com/

AH-Mer-AH-Su is the music project of interdisciplinary artist Star Amerasu, whose music and art is based on her experiences living loud and proud as a queer black trans woman. While her early work was influenced primarily by folk and choral music, she has recently begun experimenting with electronic indie pop. Residing in Oakland, California, Star is a Siren Witch Poptronic Princess and thus takes as a given the power and influence of magic and her connections to the astral plane. Star has performed across North America and in Europe, and released her debut studio EP, “Eclipsing”, in March 2016. http://www.makestarfamous.com/

articule’s gallery and washrooms are partially wheelchair accessible.

Event co-sponsored by QPIRG-McGill, articule, and the Student Society of McGill University.